Yearning for a new way will not produce it. Only ending the old way can do that. You cannot hold onto the old all the while declaring that you want something new. The old will defy the new; the old will deny the new; the old will decry the new. There is only one way to bring in the new: you must make room for it.
— Neale Donald Walsch
At our evening chapel on Monday night, I shared with the community how difficult it had been for me to pivot, professionally, at the beginning of the pandemic. Apparently, I have become an “old dog” for whom new tricks are a challenge.
When I heard an interview with Caroline Webb, author of How to Have a Good Day, I recognized myself when she described people who are in a “defended” posture instead of a “discovering” posture. Defended postures, she warns us, tend to be self-sustaining. Essentially, when we feel threatened, everything looks like a threat. Our bodies tense, our minds close, and, I would argue, our hearts can get downright hard.
How do we recognize defendedness in ourselves? How do we recognize it in others? And how do we get both of us beyond that and on the road to discovering? It is not easy! But pandemics are not the only places where this kind of self-awareness is important. At a school that takes as one of its three core values “the intentional teaching of wisdom, compassion, and humility,” these are the kinds of lessons we are privileged to be able to teach (and to learn!)
--The Rev. Barbara Talcott
Spread the word!
Do you know someone in the St. Mark’s community who would enjoy these reflections?
